Facial Soaps: Back to the Bar?

We Also Love

Use a bar soap? On your face? Stay with us here: Facial soaps have a reputation for being harsh and drying, but the new generation is just as softening as liquid cleansers.

"Bar soap got a bad rap when liquids became popular, but you can just as easily put moisturizers into a bar as into a liquid," says Jeannette Graf, M.D., assistant clinical professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.

Bars also have a smaller ecological footprint than liquids: They have simpler packaging and are lighter in weight (so they're easier to ship).